[Told by Abraham of Those-born-at-Qꜝā′dᴀsgo]
In the days when they used arrows the Skidegate people went to Kloo to
war. There they kept watch. Near by were some women alone, digging
roots. Near where the women dug they had a large fire. They already had
stones heated. Then they steamed their nettle roots. The warriors were
peering at them from behind. And the nettle roots were cooked, and were
cooked well. As they slipped the skins off they kept saying
“Wᴀha-iwa′n.” [950]
And, when they had finished this, they came out to them. They enslaved
the women. And, after they had brought them to Skidegate, they also
owned the made-up word there that they had obtained on the expedition.
They said “Ha-iwa′n” when they did anything. The Kloo people then
learned that they had captured the made-up word. And four canoe loads
of people went from Kloo to Skidegate to make war.
They then pulled up their canoes on the inner side of Gū′łga and
concealed themselves there. After they had remained in hiding for a
while three persons went by below them in a canoe. The one in the
middle was light-looking and stout. His hair hung down loose.
They then passed behind a point. Then they launched one good-sized
canoe and pursued them. And they saw that they were near. One of those
in the bow then caught up a bow and shot an arrow over them. When it
fell near the bow all three at once looked around. And they said to
each other that it was Owner. [951] They came then alongside of his
canoe and killed them all.
They took the head of Owner, and they did the same to those who were
with him. Then they had their three heads stuck up on poles at Kloo.
The Town-of-Djī′gua people made immediately another new word,
“without-even-looking-back.” [952] And when the news of that reached
Skidegate they, in turn, were ashamed.
After some time had elapsed the Kloo and Skidegate people began again
to visit back and forth. Then the Skidegate people came to Blood-fort.
And, having determined to kill them, Koagia′ns counted the people. They
then destroyed them. Not even the skin was scratched on their own side.
And, after they had killed all, a youth was missing from among them.
They then launched a canoe and hunted for him. He had jumped into the
water. He sat close to the edge of the sea on the point on which the
fort stood. They then found him. The Skidegate man begged for mercy. On
account of that they called the place “Begging-for-mercy-cove.” And
they killed him, too. Then a great quantity of blood ran in the fort.
So they called it “Blood-fort.”
Some time afterward a woman of the Common-food-steamers [953] who was
married among the Ninstints people brought over food to her friends in
Kloo. They found Kloo empty. They were afraid because they had
destroyed the Skidegate people at Blood-fort. They were all at Tꜝā′łdi.
[954] It was then that she arrived.
They slept then in the woods near the town of Kloo. One of the two
slaves who were with her told them to camp there [instead of on the
beach]. And he also heard the sound of paddling. He said then to his
mistress: “I say, let us go in over there. Some people passed here in
the night in canoes.” But his mistress did not believe what he said,
and they passed in on the south side of the island.
When they were going across the inlet they plainly saw some people
launching their canoes at a good sand beach. And they (the strangers)
chased them back. They then drove them ashore in terror. Her companions
escaped to the woods, and she remained behind alone. She did not let
them pull her in, but laid her head on the edge of the canoe.
And she said: “Hurry, cut off my head. I do not want to be a slave. I
do not want to run away frightened either. Cut off my head quickly.
Just here, my brother used to say, yours were easily cut off.” [955]
She made a mark around her neck, and she kept talking. They then cut
off her head. And all that were with her escaped into the woods.
They got the news at Tꜝā′łdi, where all were living. They were shut up
there for a while as if they had been surrounded in one house. By and
by the Skidegate people again came to war. Opposite to the place where
they had drawn up their canoes some one was chopping down a cedar for a
canoe. He felled it and went away.
Then they (the Skidegate people) asked the oldest of the warriors:
“When you used to chop down a cedar how did you think about it during
the night?” “I thought all night what one does when the woman he is in
love with accepts him. He will come to it again very early.”
They then took three men over to it during the night. When he came
there early in the morning, they killed him. Then they went over and
got them. [956]
They then fell unexpectedly upon some who came out of Tꜝā′łdi by canoe.
One drew himself up into a tree which bent over the water. He alone
escaped. They killed the rest.
During all that autumn, until the very beginning of winter, there were
enemies around them. They were never free from them.
Then the man whose sister had been killed up the inlet from Kloo could
not get a canoe. By and by Ginᴀ′skilas [957] lent him a 5-fathom canoe
without thwarts fastened in it. And he and his younger brother finished
it. After they had finished it he (Ginᴀ′skilas) changed his mind [about
lending it]. And Alder called out to his younger brother: “Kꜝwi′dᴀña-i,
[958] cut off the cedar limbs from the canoe at once. If he says a word
against it I will kill him.” He then cut them off. They took no notice
of it. And he could not get a canoe.
All winter no one took a step anywhere. By and by one of them went out
to sea for something, yet came back safely. They saw that spring was
already beginning to come on. Then Alder and Grandson went to Skidegate
to war together.
Those who remained behind felt that the earth was different. The ground
shook, and the thunder rolled directly over them, and there were
landslides. A woman of Those-born-at-Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o,
Woman-too-dirty-to-be-touched, [959] owned four large clam shells, duck
feathers, and duck grease. She laid them (the clam shells) down and put
the duck grease into them. She put duck feathers along the edges. She
sat talking to them: “Be careful, your duck grease might spill.” And it
stopped. She believed it was stopped by her actions. [960]
The warriors arrived at Skidegate. Then they all (those left behind)
got ready to move at the same time. They had their canoes loaded and
anchored at the mouth of the creek. By and by, all started off
together. That day they encamped at Xō′tdjix̣oa′s. [961] That night they
remained awake. Amasa′n and his family acted as sentinels.
The day after that they went off again. And, after they had moved on
for a while, they camped at Sqē′ługîts. The two who had gone to fight
were also away. And, after having escaped from confinement, they ate
anything, having mussels and things in the woods for provisions.
Ginᴀ′skilas then went out to examine a peninsula opposite the camping
place. And a woman of Those-born-at-Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o, West-coast-clouds, and a
slave also went out. And, as they went along, they met the [two
returning] warriors. Two scalps hung out of the stern of the canoe. And
they told her how they killed them.
“We found Skidegate empty. But still we did not go into the houses.”
Then they came back [to the canoes]. They concealed their canoes at the
seaward end of Skidegate. Afterward they went to look at Skidegate.
They found there sixty boxes of grease, stowed away. They then broke
them open with an ax. And the one whose sister’s head had been cut off,
while she was still alive, in the same way cut off the heads of four
youths who came after devilfishes.
And she went along before the fighters shouting. From the place where
Ginᴀ′skilas had gone to make an examination some came along. And she
shouted: “Ix̣iâ′⁺! Alder and Grandson found the town of Skidegate empty.
Their canoes are full.” She went toward a large canoe coming toward
her, telling the news. When she came near she recognized Gᴀ′nx̣oat’s
[962] canoe, named Sea-gull canoe. [963] She at once paddled the canoe
around, and they escaped to land. Alder and Grandson also landed there.
And Grandson’s canoe was carried away by the wind. But before the
Skidegate people arrived Kī′dja-i [964] swam over to the canoe which
was drifting away. And he did not care for the canoe, but he took the
two scalps and swam ashore with them. He moved backward, sitting down
with the two scalps in his mouth. “Now, Gîtî′ns, [965] I am glad to
meet you.”
And the Skidegate people got off to fight there. The Kloo people also
came near from Sqē′ługîts. They came together at once among the woods.
Hu hu hu hu, there was a great sound of guns there. A man of the
Skidegate-town people [966] and one of Those-born-at-Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o [967]
used to be good friends, and the Skidegate-town man shouted to him:
“Property-always-running-about, are you among them?” “Yes.” “Go home.
When the Gîtî′ns become angry not even the grizzly bear can stand
against them.” “Indeed, I will go home. I was born a grizzly bear from
my parents, who are grizzly bears. They had me at the front [in war].”
After they had fought there for a while Amasa′n and a Skidegate man
shot at each other over a thin rock at the edge of the woods, and they
kept it up. Behind Amasa′n were two persons, one of whom held a spear.
He asked for it. They refused to give it to him. He said that he would
run over to the Skidegate man soon after he had shot him. [968] They
did not give him the war spear.
Then they fought there. After they had fought there for a while, and
evening was coming on, Tā′-iłgwai fell. He was wounded. On the other
side Gidagā′ñgu also fell. They then called out to each side to stop.
[969] They then ceased shooting at each other, and the Skidegate people
got into their canoes. And the Town-of-Djī′gua people also got into
their canoes when it was very dark.
When they (the women) escaped to land in fright Flood-tide-woman went
up among the mountains. When it became dark she went down cautiously
toward the place where they had camped. She was within a month of
giving birth to a child.
When she came near she heard some people laughing. And she (a woman
among them) recognized the voice of Gwai′îs. “Uncle Gwai′îs” [she
said]. And he answered: “Ā′waiya, [I thought] they had taken you.” She
(Flood-tide-woman) had come to the one with whom he had been in love.
[970]
And after they had camped there for a while one day, when the sea was
smooth, they went away. They looked at an island which lay seaward from
them. Half of them refused to use it. The rest wished to use it. The
place was good for houses, but there was no water. They remained there
all the day.
And they went away from it to Qꜝo′nakoa fort [971] and landed there.
All said it was good. It was a good place to keep canoes. Then they
built little houses at the fort. When they were finished they began
living in them.
Before the stockade and houses were completed one of the Peninsula
people [972] who had married a woman of the Common-food-steamers
brought over news to his brother-in-law. He brought the news that
Î′ldjiwas [973] had his canoe dug out in the rough. He had done that in
order to go to war.
Before he brought the news three persons in a canoe were fishing with
floats. It was raining in the inlet where they were. And, while they
had the canoe turned bottom up over them, the Skidegate people quickly
turned over the canoe and killed them.
He (the Peninsula man) stayed all night at Qꜝo′nakoa fort and went off
the next day. When evening came his smoke [was seen] rising from an
island lying seaward. [974] Then the strongest men went out from the
fort to see him. Where he was floating, at Land-point, a big whale was
drifting. He raised a smoke for his brothers-in-law on account of that.
The people of the fort then all went out for whale. And they encamped
at G̣ᴀ′ldjida for the whale. There they cut it up.
Î′ldjiwas then had his canoe in the woods at Chicken-hawk town. [975]
They observed the Town-of-Djī′gua people cut up the whale. By and by
Two-voices went to Chicken-hawk town to cut łg̣ēt [976] with two young
men. After they had gone there they heard the sound of guns. They shot
Two-voices only. His companions they spared.
Shortly after the guns sounded he (Î′ldjiwas) sailed by in front of the
camping place. He went too fast for them to even think of going out to
him.
And after they had waited a while for a good day they loaded the whale
and went off with it. And, although they wanted to go to Qꜝo′nakoa
fort, the canoes were so heavy that they went ashore at Dog-fish fort.
[977] This fort was the best of all. And they cleared away the bushes
and started to live there. Ginᴀ′skilas owned blankets ornamented with
duck bills (lit., “duck teeth”). He hung them all around upon the
stockade on account of a canoe that had come [with visitors]. And, when
these were not quite enough, he bought ten with a slave that a woman
owned. They used to get twenty slaves for a sea otter.
In the following year all who were in Dog-fish fort went to Skidegate
to war. And, after they had pulled up their canoes into the woods in
the inlet above Skidegate, they were discovered. All of the Skidegate
people followed them at once. They shot at them. They shot one then in
the canoes of the Kloo people. They got off on the inner side of
Ku′nga-i. [978]
At that time the Town-of-Djī′gua people took to the woods. When they
fled the one who had been wounded sat in the canoe. Just before
Tā′-iłgwai got off he called to him: “Skî′lg̣atgwᴀns,” he said to him,
“try to get off. Sit at the foot of a tree in the woods. When I get to
Cumshewa [979] I will borrow a canoe and get you as soon as I can.”
Then he consented. He said: “All right.”
The Skidegate people then pulled off their canoes. Not long after that
the one they had wounded made a fire for his head. They then went over
from Skidegate and cut off his head.
And the Town-of-Djī′gua people went around by the point, camping here
and there. They had nothing to eat. And when they camped they were
cold. By and by they found a sea otter floated ashore. They made a fire
for it and steamed it in the ground. When it was cooked they set some
in front of Ginᴀ′skilas. But he said: “You put this in front of me to
eat, but I will not eat it. The gravel might see me.” [980]
They then started off and came to Cumshewa. And they attacked
Tā′-iłgwai, because he did not do as he had promised [to the wounded
man]. They then borrowed a canoe at Cumshewa and went to Skedans. [981]
They (the Skedans people) took them over to the fort.
And, after they had remained there for a while and it was again fall,
they again went to Tꜝā′łdi. And, after they were through with gathering
food, they again settled at Dog-fish fort.
And the summer after the succeeding winter some posts fell out of the
stockade. Later more fell. Then Gwi′sukūnas called his nephew and said
to him: “Chief’s son, the women can now go anywhere they want to.
Fighting lies on its back. War is over.” From that time it was ended.
At this time chief Ginᴀ′skilas died. When Qā′-idjît became chief in his
place they had a town at Sea-grass. [982]
Here is the end of this story.
WARS BETWEEN THE TOWNS OF KLOO AND KITKATLA AND BETWEEN THE KLOO
FAMILIES
[Told by Abraham of Those-born-at-Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o]
Once South-east [983] and the people of his town went trading. He came
to I′nūł. [984] And, after they had given them food for a while,
berries were dropped upon the face of South-east, and Alder [985] did
not like it. Then they began to fight at the fort. And they destroyed
the men and enslaved the women.
They then discovered Axłua′ls swimming from the fort. Some youths
pursued him. And, when they got near him, one held a spear over his
shoulder ready for him. He said to him: “Spare me brother-in-law,” but
still he speared him. He broke his back.
They towed the body of Axłua′ls ashore. Those taken as slaves then sang
the same song for his body that had been sung for him when he acted in
the secret societies and got power from the sea otter and when he
performed sleight-of-hand feats.
Lawē′⁺ huwā′⁺hō⁺ hō⁺ lawē′⁺ī iä′⁺ la⁺wē′⁺ huyä′ u ō⁺ lawē′⁺ hu wä⁺
ō⁺ lawē′⁺ hē⁺ iyä′⁺ ō⁺ ōō⁺ lawē′⁺ī⁺ iyä′⁺ō⁺
ō⁺ lawē′⁺ yē⁺ huwä′⁺ ō⁺ hō⁺ lawē′ēē⁺ hēhē⁺
iyä′⁺ ō⁺ ō⁺ lawē′⁺ hē hē iyä′wâ wâ⁺.
At that time they took forty slaves for South-east. All together, they
took seventy at that time. When they came home they started to fortify
themselves at Thin-fort. [986]
And, after they had been there for a while, Djē′basa [987] came with
many canoes. They stopped in front of the fort and bought them (the
slaves) for grease, hides, and slaves. And, after he had bought all and
had started off, a woman whose lip around her labret was broken
through, the only one left, came out and stood there, and said:
“Djē′basa, chief Djē′basa, are you going to let your property rot at
such-and-such a place where it is stowed? [988] Are you going to let it
rot at such-and-such another place where it is stowed?”[988]
Then the canoe was backed toward her, and he gathered the boxes of
grease which were in the canoe together and landed them in exchange for
her. Then she also got in, and they went away.
When they first arrived there Djē′basa ate dry fish and grease in the
canoe. They saw that his mind was good. And South-east began to speak
of building a house with what he had obtained in exchange for the
slaves. And they were glad, and the Town-of-Djī′gua people sang a song
outside.
Wai⁺ aiyā′⁺ aiyā′⁺ aiyā′⁺aiyā′ uyâ⁺ uyâ⁺ ayā⁺ ayā⁺ wâ
ai′ya⁺ aiyā′ha⁺ aiyā′ha aiyā′ha haiyā′haho haiyā′hahē, etc.
At the time they sang they made a forward motion, and when they moved
much the platform fell. No one was injured. Then one of them asked his
child: “Hî′ndju, is your brother there?” They then sang another song:
“Hî′ndju, is your brother there?”
They removed then from the fort to Chicken-hawk town. [989] But there
they built houses. After this a long time elapsed before there was
another fight. South-east was dead, and Ginᴀ′skilas [990] was also
dead, and Qā′-idjît [991] succeeded to his place. Then they cleared the
town of Sea-grass. [992] He built Cave-house [993] there.
And while Qā′-idjît was sitting idle in front of his house with a
Pebble-town woman, [994] whom he had married, Those-born-at-Skedans
[995] came from Skedans [996] to fight with him. They shot at him, and
his wife fell dead without uttering a word. But he got in safe. Then he
kept sending food through the fire to his wife. [997] That made him
soon forget about his wife.
And when summer came he married a woman of Those-born-at-Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o.
[998] The brother of the one that was killed also stayed there. His
name was Lū′g̣ot. [999]
One day Qā′-idjît painted himself and tied weasel skins in his hair, in
order to set out to eat berries. He started off. Lū′g̣ot had made a
canoe and was smoothing it there. When his brother-in-law was on the
point of starting off he ran down toward his brother-in-law. And he
threw sand into Qā′-idjît’s face. [1000]
And he asked for two guns which were in the bow. They were afraid to
hand them to him then. By and by they handed him one, and he shot his
brother-in-law. He shot true and killed him.
Those-born-at-Qꜝā′dᴀsg̣o bestirred themselves at once and fired at him.
They shot him in the elbow. Then he lay there. That day three were
killed. Qā′-idjît was made to sit on the sand. But still Qā′-idjît
escaped into the house. And he lay in the back part of Cave-house. He
had two large blankets over him. Over these he also had a cotton canoe
sail.
Now those who had done that to him went to a lonely camping place. And
afterward they were afraid he was alive. They came to kill him. It was
moonlight. A boy who was sleeping with him woke him. He then pulled
himself out from under the blankets. And, while he moved back from the
fire, one was moving a pistol [1001] about in the smoke hole. He tried
to shoot him. Twice his pistol failed to go off. Then two guns were
pointed through the smoke hole. When they went off there were large
holes in the blankets.
One day, some time afterward, he went out in front of the house and sat
idle. After he had sat there for a while they stepped toward him. He
heard the sound of running feet. And, after he had aimed his gun in
that direction for some time, Naskiä′ł [1002] stuck out his head, and
he shot at his face. He fell there on his face.
Of those who came to attack him from the camp Naskiä′ł was killed. And
the one who was with him went away. And another family looked after the
body. Afterward Qā′-idjît went to Gᴀ′nx̣oat, who was living in
Big-house. [1003] There he died. And his grandfather put him into a big
box.
Then the people who had shot him and were holding a fort in Lake inlet
[1004] brought over a peace offering. [1005] They brought over one
slave. And the next year they also held a fort up the inlet from
Sea-grass town. Thither Two-in-one came from Daog̣ā′iłgᴀłgîñ, which lies
seaward from Skedans, and got him. They came and got Naskiä′ł [1006] to
go to war with the Gîtā′mat. [1007] He went at once.
They then set out. There, at Gîtā′mat, they took many slaves for him.
Two-in-one, [1008] however, had three. And, when they returned, they
built two large houses at Atā′na. [1009] Presently they came to him to
ask for blood money. They gave then five slaves. And
Those-born-at-Skedans named their island “Sunny-fort.” [1010] By
selling the slaves that remained Naskiä′ł built a house. There they say
he began to potlatch. Now they went from Sea-grass town to get his
house timbers. And they built his house at Sea-grass town. This is how
they got back to Sea-grass town.
After that time they procured more expensive seats [at the feasts and
potlatches]. [1011] They now ceased to have trouble at Sea-grass town.
Here this ends.
Kitkatla was an important town and tribe belonging to the Tsimshian
stock. The town was on Dolphin island.